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#The Three Paths (''sandô''), including an introduction, and discussion of the techniques of material (''shu'', 種), structure (''saku''), and writing (''sho'').
 
#The Three Paths (''sandô''), including an introduction, and discussion of the techniques of material (''shu'', 種), structure (''saku''), and writing (''sho'').
 
#The Three Styles (''santai''), including discussions of the venerable style (''rôtai''), feminine style (''nyotai''), and martial style (''guntai'').
 
#The Three Styles (''santai''), including discussions of the venerable style (''rôtai''), feminine style (''nyotai''), and martial style (''guntai'').
#Miscellaneous, including the role of the ''hôka'' entertainer, the role of the demon, the ear- and eye-opening, Noh plays for young actors, revision of plays, and the centrality of ''[[yugen|yûgen]]''
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#Miscellaneous, including the role of the ''hôka'' entertainer, the role of the demon, the ear- and eye-opening, Noh plays for young actors, revision of plays, and the centrality of ''[[yugen|yûgen]]''.
    
==Three Paths==
 
==Three Paths==
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The second of the three "paths" is structure, or ''saku''. In this section, Zeami discusses the organization of a play in terms of overall rhythm and pacing, and use of vocal and dance elements. He describes a five-step development process for organizing plays based on the fundamental principle of ''[[jo-ha-kyu|jo-ha-kyû]]'', outlining his ideal structure of a five-''dan'' (five part) Noh play.<ref>This is discussed further in the article on ''[[jo-ha-kyu|jo-ha-kyû]]'', and in the main article on [[Noh]].</ref> He also emphasizes that a playwright must not only take ''jo-ha-kyû'' as a guideline for his own organization of the play, but must also take care to design a play such that the performers can employ the principle in their performance.
 
The second of the three "paths" is structure, or ''saku''. In this section, Zeami discusses the organization of a play in terms of overall rhythm and pacing, and use of vocal and dance elements. He describes a five-step development process for organizing plays based on the fundamental principle of ''[[jo-ha-kyu|jo-ha-kyû]]'', outlining his ideal structure of a five-''dan'' (five part) Noh play.<ref>This is discussed further in the article on ''[[jo-ha-kyu|jo-ha-kyû]]'', and in the main article on [[Noh]].</ref> He also emphasizes that a playwright must not only take ''jo-ha-kyû'' as a guideline for his own organization of the play, but must also take care to design a play such that the performers can employ the principle in their performance.
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The third of the three "paths" is writing, or ''sho''. In this section, Zeami discusses the composition of the play itself, with a particular focus on the language used. He writes about drawing plays from various established stories or sources (''honsetsu''), and the value of poetic allusion, drawing upon famous poems of the past through a technique known as ''[[honkadori]]'' (lit. "taking the original poem"). While Noh plays will sometimes include entire poems, or lines from poems, recited just as in the original, more commonly, they allude to famous poems through familiar referents and similar poetic structure. For example, the play ''Takasago'' opens with a chant mentioning the placename Takasago, spring, dusk, a bell, and a hill, alluding to a poem by [[Oe no Masafusa|Ôe no Masafusa]] which mentions Takasago, a bell, a hill, dawn, and frost.<ref>Quinn, ''Developing Zeami'', 139.</ref>
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The third of the three "paths" is writing, or ''sho''. In this section, Zeami discusses the composition of the play itself, with a particular focus on the language used. He writes about drawing plays from various established stories or sources (''honsetsu''), and the value of poetic allusion, drawing upon famous poems of the past through a technique known as ''[[honkadori]]'' (lit. "taking the original poem"). While Noh plays will sometimes include entire poems, or lines from poems, recited just as in the original, more commonly, they allude to famous poems through familiar referents and similar poetic structure. For example, the play ''Takasago'' opens with a chant mentioning the placename Takasago, spring, dusk, a bell, and a hill, alluding to a poem by [[Oe no Masafusa|Ôe no Masafusa]] which mentions Takasago, a bell, a hill, dawn, and frost.<ref>Quinn, ''Developing Zeami'', 139.</ref> Zeami is careful to point out, too, that important lines, including references to well-known verses, should be given to the ''shite'', rather than being uttered by the ''waki''. This not only serves Noh's philosophy as a theater form in privileging the lead actor, but makes sense within most plays as well, since the ''waki'' character is typically a simple monk, traveler, or farmer, while the ''shite'' character is often an artistically and literarily inclined figure, such as an aristocrat or god, and quite often one with a strong connection to the setting and to poems and stories about that location.
    
As for ''honsetsu'', and the choice of themes to adapt into a play, Zeami cites five ideal themes: auspiciousness (''shûgen''), ''yûgen'', love, personal grievance, and desolation.
 
As for ''honsetsu'', and the choice of themes to adapt into a play, Zeami cites five ideal themes: auspiciousness (''shûgen''), ''yûgen'', love, personal grievance, and desolation.
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==Miscellaneous==
 
==Miscellaneous==
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Among the miscellaneous topics Zeami introduces or discusses in the third portion of the ''Sandô'' are the role of the ''hôka'' entertainer, the role of the demon, the ear- and eye-opening, Noh plays for young actors, revision of plays, and the centrality of ''[[yugen|yûgen]]''.
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The ear-opening (''kaimon'') and eye-opening (''kaigen'') are two climatic moments which should occur within each play, in which the audience member experiences a particularly powerful aural or visual impression, respectively. The two can occur in greatly differing points in differing plays, and are not limited to particular portions of the narrative or dramatic structure. However, Zeami asserts that the ear-opening, which comes as the result of the accumulation of story, poetry, and chanting over the course of the play, building up to a peak experience of appreciation or enjoyment, should always precede the eye-opening, which is the spectator being moved, impressed, or awed by the visual spectacle of the play, typically during the dance of the play's ending section.
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